Tags

Florida can be great and all, but after five days down there, time was happily up to return back to Cincinnati. I think I'd about had enough. You can only stare at palm trees for so long.

Now back home, we can reflect a bit on the what occurred in Orlando. Truth be told, not a whole lot. There, of course, was the discussions from Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis regarding Andy Dalton that drove my conversation, but on the whole it was a relatively quiet week for the league.

We learned there will be consultation with the league officials as referees go under the hood and the goal posts will now rise five feet higher. For the first two weeks of the preseason, there will be 38-yard PATs with the ball placed at the 20.

If it's more challenging extra points you are after, OK. That will help.

But consider last year teams still made 90 percent of kicks from the 30-39 range. That's more exciting than 99.6 percent of current PATs, but the league would probably prefer a lower percentage than that. A number of options will be a part of the discussion next year to be sure.

Following the meeting, Mike Brown offered this regarding the future of the extra point:

"There was very good discussion on the extra point," he said. "It's become a celebratory play in my mind. It's not an exciting play. The thing I like is we have started a discussion on the extra point. I don't think necessarily this is where we're going to end up. There are a lot of different ideas. Put the ball at the one for a better chance to convert for two. Narrow the goal posts. Eliminate the play altogether and just count a touchdown as seven points. That would take time out of the game and we need eliminate time of the game because the game is growing too long. Another idea is just to eliminate and just make the conversion a live play. In the next year or so they'll debate it and there will be a new way."

Another point of emphasis came surrounding the sportsmanship on the field. Jeff Fisher pointed out there was a rise of taunting penalties from nine to 34 last year. They sounded as serious about putting this to an end as any item discussed this week.

Respect in every capacity of the game really was the theme of the week. Much of this comes as a result of the Wells Report along with the on-field unsportsmanlike issues.

Brown felt good about the way Marvin Lewis has handled the locker room and didn't view it as an issue:

"Marvin has been very good with that. The coaches talked in their meetings about how coaching has changed. Jeff Fisher, the coach of the Rams, said when he was a young coach he spent 80 percent of the time on Xs and Os and 20 percent on interaction with players. Now it's flipped. It's important to work with players, to lead them, instruct them, set standards for them. I think you can do that by being down in the locker room or being around them more. You can do that by including sermons in your daily meetings. Meet with them privately. Keep them on your phone. Marvin does all that and I think that's what good coaches need to do."

As Fisher said when asked about coaches who don't spend enough time in the locker room: "They won't be a coach in the NFL for very long."

Thanks, Scott for the question. Ah, yes, the jersey quandary. Nobody wants to buy a jersey just to see the player jettisoned within a year and then back to Dick's Sporting Good to drop another hundred down. I'd say, if you are looking to have a jersey for longevity purposes, you can't go wrong with Geno Atkins or Carlos Dunlap. They are both here through 2018. Plus, owning a DL jersey shows an appreciation for the true core of the game.

Of course, if you are looking for pizazz and to be able to pop your jersey in the face of those around you following a TD, Gio Bernard wouldn't be a poor choice. Running backs are always a wild card health-wise, but Bernard should be at the center of this attack for the next 3-5 years at least.

Under the radar great jersey if you are looking to rep a guy who loves the city and everyone will give you a high-5 for? Go Vinny Rey. You know you have him for at least two years and, let's be honest, everybody likes Vinny Rey.

TWEET OF THE DAY

Domata is one of the nicest people you will meet across the NFL. He's particularly great with fans, media, really everyone. He won the PFWA Good Guy Award last year for treatment of the media. Here is one of thousands of pictures he's taken while around town.